Valeriano Weyler

Valeriano Weyler (17 September 1838-20 October 1930) was the Governor of the Spanish Philippines from 1888 to 1891, Governor of Spanish Cuba from 1896 to 1897, and Minister of War various times from 1901 to 1907. He was known for leading the Spanish Army during the Cuban War of Independence, where he became known as "Butcher Weyler" for his brutal tactics employed in placing Cubans into concentration camps.

Biography
Valeriano Weyler was born on 17 September 1838 in Palma, Majorca, in the Spanish Empire to a German and Spanish family. By 1858 he reached the rank of Lieutenant in the Spanish Army, having joined at sixteen. In 1863 he was sent to Spanish Cuba and fought in the Ten Years' War of 1868-78 as a colonel, defeating Cuban rebels until he returned home to Spain in 1873 to fight in the Third Carlist War. In 1878, he was promoted to General.

From that year to 1883, he was Governor-General of the Canary Islands and from 1888 to 1891 he was the Governor of the Spanish Philippines. In 1895 he crushed a Tagalog rebellion and later led a campaign to suppress the Moros in Mindanao. Weyler was dispatched back to Cuba in 1896 as its new Governor, and became known as "Butcher" Weyler due to his tactics there. Weyler imprisoned Cubans in concentraiton camps ("reconcentrados") and many of them died, turning the opinion of the United States against the dying Spanish Empire. Weyler resigned after Prime Minister Antonio Canovas del Castillo was killed by anarchist Michele Angiolillo in 1897 and was Minister of War many times from 1901 to 1907. He died on 20 October 1930 in Madrid, Spain.